M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives
University Libraries / University at Albany / State University of New York
1400 Washington Avenue / Albany, New York 12222 / (518) 437-3935

VOLUME: 40.5 cubic feet

ACQUISITION: All items in this manuscript group were donated
to the University Libraries, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives,
by the Conservative Party of New York State in March 1989. An additional 6 cubic
feet of records were deposited in August 2004, August 2006, October 2006, and November 2006, but are not yet described in this finding aid.

ACCESS: Access to this record group is unrestricted.

COPYRIGHT: The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of copyright. Whenever possible, the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives will provide information about copyright owners and other restrictions, but the legal determination ultimately rests with the researcher. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the Head of Special Collections and Archives.

Conservative Party of New York State
Administrative History

The Conservative Party of New York State, also commonly referred to as the
New York State Conservative Party, was officially founded in 1962. Efforts
to form the party were initiated following the Republican loss of New York State
in the 1960 Presidential Election. In 1961 disaffected Republicans, led
by New York City attorneys Kiernan O'Doherty and J. Daniel Mahoney, formed the
organizing committee for the New York State Conservative Political Association,
Inc., a membership corporation. This association was established as a
base upon which to build the Conservative Party, "a fourth party, to counter
the influence of the New York Liberal Party." [1] The Conservative Party's
intent was to "exercise leverage upon the major political parties by endorsing
and working for candidates from either party whose views paralleled its own,
and running its own candidates where acceptable major party candidates were
not put forth." [2]

State headquarters opened in April 1962 as the Conservative Party, Inc. which
performed the operations of the party through 1962. Due to provisions
of the New York State Election Law, the party did not become an official political
party until election day of that year. Red-tape was bypassed by taking
over and renaming the defunct Freedom Party, Inc. Development of the party
began with the creation of local party clubs which were viewed as the party's
"main political resource." [3] Interim county committees were formed,
and by 1963 there was a county chairman for each of New York State's 62 counties.
It was not until 1964 that county committees were elected consisting of two
to four members from each election district.

The party's Organizing Committee was redesignated in 1962 as the State Committee
and a State Executive Committee was created. The State Committee, like
the county committees, was not duly elected until 1964. It consisted of
three members from each Congressional district meeting one to two times annually.
The State Committee acts as a general oversight body for the party. The
State Executive Committee, which meets on a regular basis, controls the implementation
of policy. Party officers include the State Chairman, State Vice Chairmen,
Secretary and Treasurer. In 1971 the position of Executive Director was
instituted to handle many of the administrative details that could no longer
be performed by the State Chairman alone.

Conservative Party of New York State
Scope & Content Note

The records of the Conservative Party of New York State (hereafter referred
to as CPNYS) include party news releases, bulletins, some State Committee and
State Executive Committee meeting minutes, election material (such as authorizations
and designating petitions of party candidates), party legislative programs,
publications, and news clippings. Information on CPNYS candidates is scattered
between the Subject Files, which consist primarily of reference material, and
the official election campaign documents of the Chairman's Subject Files.
The most complete campaign information is that for James L. Buckley's U.S. Senatorial
Campaign of 1970. Records related to that campaign are located in the
Subject Files and Buckley Files.

The strength of this collection is in the documentation of the CPNYS's positions
on social, political and economic issues. The most substantive information
is in the News Releases File. Unfortunately that series contains
no records for 1967, 1982, 1984 and 1985. News releases for these missing
years may be found in the Subject File. The Position Papers also provide
valuable information about the party's ideological stance on a limited range
of topics (twenty-six). The Legislative Programs in the Chairman's Subject
Files provide extensive information on the political goals of the party and
are complete except for a major gap from 1979 to 1985. Among the printed
materials in the Chairman's Subject Files are reprinted articles and mass mailings.
These documents provide an indication of the party's position on a variety of
issues.

Although the records span the period from 1962 to 1988 the bulk of the records
covers the 1970s and are primarily reference in nature.

An additional 6 cubic
feet of records were deposited in August 2004, August 2006, October 2006,
and November 2006, but are not yet described in this finding aid.

This series contains the working files of the Conservative Party Chairman.
It includes candidates' authorizations and designating petitions of Conservative
Party candidates, election results canvasses, State Committee meeting and State
Executive Committee meeting minutes, bulletins, legislative programs, legislative
memoranda, committee lists and membership lists, reports, documentation relating
to legal cases, party fund raising appeals, and some correspondence. Also
included are CPNYS petition instructions which contain a political calendar
and list of county chairmen for each year (1968/69, 1971-74, 1976-78).
The files include documents created or received by the Executive Director of
the CPNYS as well as the party's State Chairman.

This series consists of outgoing correspondence and bulletins. The bulk
of the material was created by the Executive Director of the Conservative Party
of New York State, but includes some correspondence of the State Chairman.

This series contains news releases issued by the Conservative Party of New
York State for all years since the party's inception with the exception of 1982,
1984 and 1985. It contains information on Conservative Party candidates,
New York State and New York City politicians, and social, political and economic
issues.

This series contains primarily dinner journals for the annual dinners of the
Conservative Party of New York State, a newsletter issued by the CPNYS, Congressional
Alert (1976/77, 1979), and the party's Political Action Manual (1969).
The dinner journals contain lists of Conservative Party officials (state and
county), sponsors, members and candidates.

This series contains mass mailings from other conservative organizations, newspaper
and magazine clippings, correspondence, and campaign literature. It is
primarily a reference file of information on social, political and economic
issues (foreign, domestic, state, and New York City), political candidates and
campaigns for NYS Assembly, Senate, and Congressional districts, and people
in the news. It also contains dinner journals of county committees, copies
of election laws, and fund raising information.

This series contains the records of the Queens County Conservative Party retained
with the CPNYS records because of the CPNYS Executive Director's concurrent
position as Chairman of the Queens County Conservative Party. It contains
materials regarding the Queens County Conservative Party's annual dinners, dinner
journals, bulletins, candidates, designating petitions, agendas, rules and regulations,
and some correspondence.

This series contains the records of James L. Buckley and William F. Buckley.
The records of James L. Buckley (1968-76) include campaign material, memoranda,
newsletters, and news releases, regarding his US Senate campaign and tenure.
The records of William F. Buckley include clippings and correspondence (1963,
1965-70, 1974-80, 1982), and campaign materials and position papers for his
1965 New York City Mayoral campaign.